MR. SIEWERT: Good morning. A quick statement from the
President that I'll read: Today we have more evidence that our economic
strategy is working. The American economy has created more than 22
million jobs since the beginning of 1993. More than 20 million of these
jobs are in the private sector, giving us the highest share of private
sector job creation since President Truman was in office. The benefits
of job creation have been enjoyed across the American economy, with the
unemployment rates for African Americans and Hispanics falling to record
lows this year.

This good news is another reminder that America should not
reverse course with irresponsible tax cuts that risk our fiscal
discipline and jeopardize our continued economic strength. Let's ensure
that the American people can continue to break records by maintaining
fiscal discipline, paying off the debt by 2012, keeping Social Security
and Medicare strong for the next generation, investing in education and
other priorities.

Q Are the Vice President's tax cuts responsible?

MR. SIEWERT: They are. They're responsible and they're
targeted.

Q Why are they more responsible than --

MR. SIEWERT: Because they dedicate the vast bulk of the
surpluses to paying off the debt and ensuring that Social Security and
Medicare are strengthened.

I will take questions, and PJ is here to take your questions
as well. We can try to make it orderly, or you could just ask random
questions in random order and we can bounce back and forth, however
you'd like to do it.

Q Jake, what in the way of preparation is the President
doing for the summit next week?

MR. SIEWERT: Will begin with Mr. Crowley.

MR. CROWLEY: I think he will be getting briefed by the senior
staff. I think there will be opportunities for him to reflect on past
meetings. Obviously what will happen at Camp David next week builds
upon previous experiences both with Wye and with Shepardstown, but
primarily this is about continuing to be assessing where the parties are
and prepared for setting a good tone, and working hard in the next few
days to reach an agreement on the core final status issues.

Q PJ, the tone seems to be very pessimistic. Both sides
seem to be very downbeat for the moment about this summit. What's the
President's sense of --

MR. CROWLEY: I would call the tone very realistic. I think
we understand quite well the difficulty of these issues. It has been
seven years since Oslo. The reason final status issues were left until
the end is because they were so difficult. And yet, I think the
President recognizes that this is also an historic opportunity. So all
we can guarantee next week is that we'll give it our 100 percent effort
to move the leaders towards agreement on the course of final status
issues.

Q Is Okinawa a hard and fast deadline for the President?
Does he have to go, or is it conceivable he would stick around --

MR. CROWLEY: The President is planning to go to Okinawa.
Just as a planning item, we will have the press sign up for the Okinawa
trip this afternoon. The President will leave on July 19th. He will
travel to Tokyo for a brief stop of a few hours of a bilateral meeting
with Prime Minister Mori. He'll also participate in an information
technology development event with G-8 leaders, and then we'll move on to
Okinawa. But we plan to be in Okinawa for the G-8 summit.

Q Any more on when the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators
will get here and where they will be meeting before the summit begins
Tuesday?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't know. I'll defer to the State
Department and my colleague, Richard Boucher, on that. But as far as I
know, they do arrive this weekend. They will do some preparatory work
prior to Tuesday. But I don't have a set schedule.

Q You mentioned he'll be thinking about Wye and also the
meeting in Shepardstown as he gets ready for this. Are you thinking
that he'll be reviewing his MO, the amount of time he spends with
people, or is it more of a substantive thing, the issues than versus
then --

MR. CROWLEY: I think everything of this nature has taken on a
dynamic of its own. So I expect when the leaders arrive at Camp David
on Tuesday there will be an initial plenary meeting among the leaders,
and then from there they'll start meeting in different combinations and
they'll just start working the issues, and the process will take care of
itself.

So I think the President will clearly spend a substantial
amount of time at Camp David. He will be integrally involved with the
leaders, both collectively, individually. He and his team will be
meeting in various combinations with both the negotiators. They'll pull
in experts for the specific issues that are at stake here. And this is
a process that I think they'll just define and will create its own
dynamic as it moves forward.

Q Will he be shuttling back and forth or will he stay up
there overnight?

MR. CROWLEY: I think you'll see a combination, depending on
how -- we reset his schedule that he will spend time up there, he will
come back here periodically. Again, I think this will flow as the
meetings get started.

Q Do you have anything on press arrangements yet?

MR. CROWLEY: We've had White House and State Department
advance teams up there. I think the press file will be at the Thurmont
Elementary School. And then we'll -- we'll take a filing break, if you
want to -- but, obviously, we'll have a press file as near as we can.
But, clearly, once the leaders get to Camp David, it is a location that
I think will help facilitate progress on the process.

Q Has the President talked to President Carter at all, or
any of his people?

MR. CROWLEY: I can't say that he has. I think that both on
the press side, with Joe and for the President, as he thinks through
approaches for Tuesday, he may well reach out to people who were a part
of the summit in 1978.

Q PJ, the Palestinians expect this meeting to lead to
another in August. Are they wrong to expect that?

MR. CROWLEY: I think that the President has pledged that he
is going to work as hard as he can over the next several days to push
the leaders towards an agreement. Remember, the finish line is an
agreement on the core status issues. These talks next week are a part
of the process of moving to bridge their differences that exist and
reach that agreement.

So we're prepared to work as hard as we can over the next
several days and actually get an agreement. But whether we reach that
goal I think will depend as the meetings get started and we can build
momentum with the leaders on hand to work as they will.

Q And if it seems to take another meeting in August to
reach that agreement?

MR. CROWLEY: Wendell, it's a fair question, but at this
point, we're prepared to go Tuesday and we're prepared to work as hard
as we can, and we'll go as far as we can in the time that's available.

Q PJ, in terms of momentum and trying to do everything the
President can do to foster the process, is there any flexibility in his
departure time for Japan? Is that under consideration?

MR. CROWLEY: The President is planning to attend the G-8
meeting and he's planning to depart Washington on July 19th.

Q PJ, how do you respond -- some of the Republicans are
concerned that the administration is not consulting with them about what
kind of U.S. assistance could be involved if there is any peace yield.
They're thinking that the administration might go into the summit
promising to spend more than they can deliver.

MR. CROWLEY: I think that the leaders on Capitol Hill
understand, as the President does, that reaching an agreement and moving
towards a comprehensive peace in the Middle East is in the interest of
the United States, it's in the interest of the rest of the world. I
think they understand that resources will be necessary to support and
sustain an agreement if one can be reached. But as to how -- what kind
of support, how much support, that will be something, obviously, the
President has pledged that he will consult with Congress before making
any final decisions on what the U.S. contribution to supporting a peace
agreement would be.

Q PJ, has the President gotten some sort of resolution on
this issue with Mr. Barak about the sale of these Falcon radar systems
to China?

MR. CROWLEY: The Falcon system is something that is still
under discussion between the two governments.

Q Is it likely to be discussed next week?

MR. CROWLEY: The focus of next week's talks are Middle East
peace.

Q I understand that, but is it likely that the Falcon would
be discussed?

MR. CROWLEY: I mean, they're going to spend a lot of time
together; can I rule out that during a conversation somebody might say,
while I've got you here -- I can't rule that out. But the focus is
Middle East peace.

Q PJ, is there going to be any down time or play time or
just relax time up there?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't want to draw parallels between 1978 and
the year 2000; they're different leaders, different issues, same
setting. But I do know that 22 years ago, President Carter took
opportunities to take the leaders to Gettysburg and to other places up
there, and I think again, once the leaders are together and they see the
pace of negotiations and talks, if they decide to go off and see some of
the beautiful Maryland countryside, that will be something that the
President may well propose. But I can't judge.

Q Golf?

MR. CROWLEY: Golf is good. Peace is good.

Q Do the leaders play golf?

MR. CROWLEY: I don't know. That's a good question.

Q I understand that there's supposedly some shuffling,
though, going on as far as the President's schedule of things that were
set from Tuesday on, that there's been some shuffling for some events --
like Tuesday was the NAACP Convention that he was supposed to speak to.
And I understand that they're still leaving it in flux, that he could
still go. Is that kind of thing happening for other situations?

MR. CROWLEY: I think as part of this informative briefing,
we'll have the week ahead for you, which will give you a signal as to
what the President's plans are next week.

Q Were there other sites considered outside of Camp David?

MR. CROWLEY: Yes.

Q Why did you choose Camp David?

MR. CROWLEY: Just the bottom line was that this was the -- we
think the right place to support the leaders at this time.

Q Jake, can you say anything about plans by the President
to deal with the anti-environmental rider on the supplemental spending
bill?

MR. SIEWERT: I don't have much to add to what Joe said
earlier this week, that we are examining our options to deal with that
provision. As you know, we had put in place a process to strengthen
water quality standards and we're continuing to look at administrative
options to deal with that particular rider.

Q Jake, what is the President and the White House
involvement in this federal execution delay?

MR. SIEWERT: Well, the judge in that case set an execution
date for Mr. Garza before the clemency guidelines for capital cases were
complete. Those are guidelines that we are working on in conjunction
with the Department of Justice, and we expect the Department of Justice
to have those to the White House within the next week or so.

The President wants to make sure that Mr. Garza has a full
opportunity to submit a request for clemency and that the President,
himself, has an opportunity to review that matter completely. Given
that time line, we expect the President will stay Mr. Garza's sentence
to make sure that process has an opportunity to play itself out.

Q For how long?

MR. SIEWERT: I'm not going to address that today. But I can
say that we expect that -- we want Mr. Garza to have an opportunity to
submit a request for clemency. We want to make sure that there are firm
guidelines in place. There hasn't been a federal execution for nearly
40 years. There has not been a person in federal system who has
exhausted all their judicial remedies who is facing the death penalty
since 1963. So we expect that the President will want to take some time
and make sure that he has a full opportunity to --

Q Why are these guidelines not ready?

MR. SIEWERT: This is something that the Justice Department
has been working on for the last three months. There are guidelines in
place today, to be clear, that govern federal clemency petitions. But
we wanted to ensure that we had a full opportunity to have guidelines
that dealt specifically with prisoners who are on death row who have
exhausted their legal remedies and wanted to request executive clemency
from the President.

Q Will your stay extend long enough for Justice to finish
these reports on the racial makeup of death row inmates?

MR. SIEWERT: What we want to do is ensure that this person --
that this prisoner has an opportunity to request executive clemency
under guidelines that are clear, that have been published. And that is
what the stay will go to.

Q What's the factor in terms of punting this from here on
out? Is this an effort to punt it past the election, or maybe into the
next --

MR. SIEWERT: No, this is an effort to establish clear
guidelines that govern capital cases that this prisoner will have an
opportunity, other prisoners will have an opportunity to seek executive
clemency through well-established guidelines that reflect the realities
of today's.

Q So it's only a coincidence that this will almost
inevitably prolong it past the election?

MR. SIEWERT: Obviously, the judge set a date that was a date
in August that -- the judge set a date in August which is dictating the
timetable in terms of -- but that was set by a judge, a federal judge in
Texas.

Q When is the President going to grant this stay? I mean,
is he definitely going to do it?

MR. SIEWERT: Well, we're going to wait and take a look at the
executive -- the guidelines that govern executive clemency and we expect
those within the next week or so.

Q PJ, can I ask you -- you said the President would consult
with Congress before making any final decision on aid that might be
associated with this deal. That sounds pretty much like they're going
to be presented with a fait accompli, or are they going to be consulted
all the way along on the funding level?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that as a potential agreement
takes shape, as you work through the issues, you'll start to understand
from an Israeli point of view, for example, what kind of elements will
they need in security so that they can have the guarantees to go back to
the Israeli people and say that this agreement will make them more
secure. We have supported Israel in the past in terms of guaranteeing
its security and we will continue to do that.

And as we have in the past, we have proposed assistance to the
Palestinians to help them understand that peace is in their interest and
that we can work with them to help build prosperity for the future. So
we recognize that as an agreement takes shape, there are going to be
specific requirements that will be attached to that as you work through
the various final status issues.

To the extent that as the President assesses the agreement
that there's a role for the United States to play, he will, at that
point, consult with Congress and say, we think these are the
requirements to support and sustain this peace agreement; these are
capabilities that we, the United States, might have and it is in our
interest to support them. So we will consult fully with Congress as
this agreement takes shape to be able to help Congress understand what
we think the United States can contribute to the success of this
agreement.

Q So an ongoing consultative process, not just, here's the
number, why don't you accept that?

MR. CROWLEY: I think that as this unfolds, we'll have the
opportunity to reach out to Congress as we see both what the
requirements are to support and agreement, what we can do, and this will
be something we will do as we have done in the past.

Q And given that Congress hasn't been overly eager in the
last few years to appropriate money for foreign aid, and that Israel is
already getting a substantial amount of foreign aid, how concerned are
you that Congress may not come up with the money that you're looking
for?

MR. CROWLEY: I think that everyone understands that a
comprehensive peace in the Middle East is in our interest, and that we
need to be prepared to support it if there is an agreement.

Q On tonight's missile test, granted Secretary Cohen is not
going to make his recommendation for a matter of weeks, I guess, but is
it inconceivable that the President would not make his recommendation on
whether or not to go ahead with construction of the missile defense
until after the November election?

MR. CROWLEY: We have a process in place, and once this test
occurs it will take several days for the Ballistic Missile Defense
Organization to assess the results of this test. It's very complex.
There are a lot of elements to national missile defense, including both
the ability to detect it, the command control communications, the kill
vehicle -- the decision-making process that allows you to effectively
engage an incoming missile and potentially destroy it.

So this is a very complex test, it's a very complex process.
And so it will take some time for the Pentagon to assess the results of
this test. That will feed into Secretary Cohen's recommendation to the
President once the Pentagon finishes what they call deployment readiness
review. So I think this will be a process that unfolds over the next
several weeks at a minimum.

Q But is it fair to say that even if the test isn't
successful, we might go ahead and build the system anyway?

MR. CROWLEY: I think there will be a great temptation to do
some instantaneous analysis after the test tonight. I would say a hit
doesn't automatically suggest success, nor does a failure automatically
come with a miss tonight. So I think everyone needs to understand that
this is going to be a process that unfolds over many weeks, both in
terms of analyzing what tonight's test shows, how that feeds into the
Pentagon's recommendation to the President. And again the President
will make his decision later this year based on the four criteria that
we've enunciated before.

Q Once again, could later this year be on the other side of
the election in November?

MR. CROWLEY: The election is not a factor in the President's
decision-making process.

Q Granted, but could it be on the other side?

MR. CROWLEY: Wendell, there's no date in the wall, so early
November -- what is driving this process is the need to potentially,
depending on the President's decision, begin the process so that
construction can begin -- next year. So that is why it has to be done
sometime this year. But there's no arbitrary date that says it has to
be done by this particular date.

Q PJ, what constitutes success, though, for this mission?

MR. CROWLEY: This is a test, and this is one of 16 integrated
flight tests that the Pentagon has scheduled as part of this development
program. So I'm sure that politically, those who are in favor of
national defense will find something tonight that supports their
argument; those who are opposed to national defense will do the same.
The President ultimately will make his best judgment later this year,
based on his advisors providing him the best possible perspective
regarding threat, cost, technical feasibility and the overall impact on
our national security. So, ultimately, the President is going to pass
is judgment on deployment based on what is right.

Q PJ, back to the summit -- obviously, the President has
been involved in these type negotiations many times now. Could you tell
us what distinguishes this one for the President?

MR. CROWLEY: I think we recognize that there has never been a
better opportunity to reach a comprehensive agreement, and the President
understands that we have leaders who are prepared to show courage,
flexibility, who have mandates from their respective people that it is
time to reach an agreement. But at the same time, the President
recognizes that these are extraordinarily emotional, difficult, and
complex issues, but he believes that it's time to bring the leaders
together. They can talk through these issues, see what progress can be
made and see if we can't move toward an agreement that we think enhances
security and stability in the Middle East.

Q Jake, can I ask one more on the death penalty?
Obviously, the President has been a strong supporter of the death
penalty, but in light of these new clemency guidelines -- there's a
Justice Department report coming out soon on racial, geographical
disparities -- is his support changing?

MR. SIEWERT: No, I think the President has been pretty clear
on this. As a strong supporter of the death penalty, he feels under
particular obligation that it is administered justly. That's why he's
asked in this case for clear guidelines that govern clemency. And given
that nearly 40 years has passed since the last prisoner was in this
situation, he wants new guidelines that reflect the realities of today's
judicial system, and the realities of today's federal capital cases.

So he's asking that we have clear guidelines in place because
he believes that if we're to administer the death penalty, we ought to
make sure that it's done in a just manner. He's been very clear about
the racial disparities. He said in the press conference that the
initial reports are disturbing and he wants to know more. And the
Justice Department is working on that. I can't prejudge what they'll
find, but when they have a final report the President will take a look
at it and make his own decisions.

Q How many death penalties are these guidelines going to
apply to? Presumably, whoever enters the Oval Office in January would
have the authority to revise them, change them, put in new guidelines?

MR. SIEWERT: I would hope -- I mean, we're doing a thorough
job; it's taking some time to do this. It's important work, and I would
hope that they would be -- they're being developed at the Justice
Department by -- I would hope that these guidelines would be used by
future Presidents. Obviously, other Presidents would have the ability
to change those guidelines, but they're basically procedural guarantees
that executive clemency pleas are treated in a fair and expeditious
manner.

Q I know they're not here yet, but can you give us a sense
of what we're talking about in terms of what these guidelines --

MR. SIEWERT: No. We'll see them next week, probably next
week, and we'll have more to say on that when we have them.

Q Do you still plan to put them out for comment?

MR. SIEWERT: There is some confusion about that. These are
advisory regulations, which means that once the President and the
Department of Justice agree on them, they will be published, yes, in the
Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations so the people have
an opportunity to look at them. But there's not an official comment
period.

Q Does it imply that once they're published, they're final,
but there would still be an opportunity for people to look at them, get
back with some comments, and conceivably they could be amended?

MR. SIEWERT: I don't expect that. I think that we will --
once we've agreed with the Department of Justice on these regulations,
they'll be final. They exist essentially for the guidance of the
Department of Justice personnel, who are responsible for administering
these cases and to give public information about the process.
Obviously, if people make comments or people see them and have some
particular complaint about them, we'll listen to their views.

Q But there is no effective comment --

MR. SIEWERT: It's not like a proposed rule that would go
through OMB, be published for an initial period, and then there are
final guidelines. The rule, when published in the Code of Federal
Regulations, is essentially final.

Q How about the fundraisers in California?

MR. SIEWERT: I'll do the week ahead, if we're ready for that.
Do we have anything else? You don't want to ask me about leaks, or
anything like that? No.

The President's weekly radio address will be broadcast live
Saturday morning at 10:06 a.m. The President will be addressing the
congressional agenda. There are no public events for the President's
schedule tomorrow.

Q What about the Internet address?

MR. SIEWERT: The President is also, today, taping a webcast
that will be broadcast tomorrow. It's his third such webcast in a row,
three weeks in a row, to the delight of the speechwriters. And that
will be broadcast tomorrow, and that will focus on the new White House
website, which is up and running today.

On Sunday, the President has no public schedule. On Monday,
he'll travel to Pennsylvania in the morning -- late morning. He'll
probably leave the White House around 11:30 a.m., and make remarks to
the National Governors' Association Annual Meeting in State College,
Pennsylvania. Obviously, it will be an opportunity for him to survey
some of the work that he's done with his former colleagues in the
governor's mansions across the country and statehouses, and reflect a
bit on the progress we've made on welfare, health care, education, other
issues.

He will then go to Philadelphia, where he'll make remarks at a
dinner for Ron Klink for U.S. Senate, where again he'll have an
opportunity to reflect on what a change in the makeup of the Senate
might mean for the patients' bill of rights. And he will return to the
White House that evening.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the President's schedule is TBD. We
obviously expect that he'll go to Camp David at some point to
participate in the Middle East peace summit, as PJ made clear, but the
departure time is TBD at this point.

On Thursday, the President will participate in the
Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony for Father Theodore Hesburgh, on
Capitol Hill. That's at 2:00 p.m. As you know, Father Hesburgh was the
longtime President of the University of Notre Dame, and a leading
activist on behalf of civil rights and other social issues. The rest of
the day his schedule is TBD, as well as on Friday.

Q Do you expect the -- maybe this was mentioned earlier,
but do you think the leaders will come here before going there, or
they'll go straight up there?

MR. CROWLEY: No, they won't come here.

Q And are they to arrive Monday or Tuesday morning, or
what?

MR. SIEWERT: Still TBD.

Q So he will be speaking at the NAACP Convention?

MR. SIEWERT: The President would like to address the NAACP
Convention in Baltimore. He made a commitment to do that. He also made
a commitment to address the DLC on Friday in Baltimore, but at the
moment, those are not on his schedule.

Q So they could be on his schedule?

MR. SIEWERT: We'll see how things go in Camp David.

Q That was also the Friday -- was he supposed to do that
on-line chat with British Prime Minister Tony Blair?

MR. SIEWERT: Yes, that was part of the DLC event in
Baltimore. At the moment, that is not on his schedule.

Q What's the deal with all these Internet speeches? Does
he not think his message is getting through on the radio sufficiently
lately? (Laughter.)

MR. SIEWERT: The President loves --

Q -- that he's doing the Internet addresses?

MR. SIEWERT: The President loves the radio. It's a great
medium. It's been used by Presidents for years. But the President
wanted to take advantage of a new medium, a medium for the 21st century.
And he actually -- the reality is that we did a webcast in Los Angeles
several weeks ago on a particular issue -- a new government search
engine for federal information. The President enjoyed it and asked to
do some more. I don't know that we'll be doing them every week, but so
far we have, and we'll let you know if we can --

Q Are you tracking hits?

Q Yes, are you getting a better response on the web?

MR. SIEWERT: Let me check -- on the website, certainly, it's
one of the most popular websites being used. I know you all use it to
get our press releases. But on the webcast, I don't know that
specifically. I can check on that. But they've actually gotten a lot
of attention. Certainly the on-line news organizations cover them very
closely, and it's an excellent opportunity for him to talk about issues
that particularly affect the Internet and affect information technology.

Q Anything more specific on the NGA?

MR. SIEWERT: Not at this point, no. But, as I said, it will
probably cover the full range of issues that the President's worked on
with governors over the last eight years, from education to welfare
reform to health care.

Q Thank you, Jake.

Q Will the President ask for G-8 support in Japan before
concluding a deal here in Camp David? Because we are talking of money
here.